PHOENIX — Baseball agent Scott Boras said Monday that New York Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez has hired him as his agent, replacing his longtime former agent, Paul Kinzer.

Rodriguez could not be reached for comment Monday. He repeatedly declined comment over the weekend.

Boras announced the switch days after meeting with Rodriguez both before and after Thursday’s game against the Dodgers. Boras said Rodriguez signed the paperwork for the switch Thursday in Los Angeles.

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Scott Boras

“We had been in contact for several weeks before Los Angeles,” Boras said in an interview. “He formally hired us and signed the documents in L.A.”

The switch could impact the Mets’ flexibility to trade their closer. Earlier this season, Rodriguez expressed a willingness to accept a trade to a contending team that would use him as a setup man for the rest of this season. But that would likely prevent him from finishing 55 games, the number required for his $17.5 million contract option for 2012 to vest.

During an All-Star Game media session Monday, Boras said Rodriguez wasn’t keen on going to a team that doesn’t need a closer.

“I don’t think any team is going to be having Frankie Rodriguez serve as a setup man,” Boras said. “Frankie Rodriguez is a closer. He will be a closer. He’s a closer and that’s what he does.”

The extent to which that view impacts the Mets’ flexibility depends entirely on which teams are on K-Rod’s no-trade list. He can veto a trade to any of 10 teams he selected when he signed with the Mets in December 2008. The identity of those teams has not been publicly disclosed.

According to a person familiar with the deal, the Yankees are not among the teams on the list. When K-Rod chose the teams, the person said, he did so based on which teams he wouldn’t want to play for, even if those teams would be unlikely to trade for him anyway. The list includes some small-market teams that would not be in the market for him, the person said, but it also includes a few that have expressed interest in trading for him recently.

Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said Sunday that Rodriguez had yet to notify the team of a change in agents, but expected to hear something in the next several days.

“We’re going to sit down and talk with the Mets and work this through — kind of get an understanding of what plans are,” Boras said. “They’re playing well. This guy has got more saves in history than anyone at [age] 29. He’s a remarkable talent, so we’ll see in the present and in the future what they may want to do.”